Budapest transport is cheap, dense and excellent. Buy in the app, and validate paper tickets before you move or the inspector at the escalator will find you.
- A single is HUF 500, or HUF 700 bought on the spot, and a 24 hour travelcard is HUF 2,750 - which pays for itself in six rides and removes the validation problem.
- A paper ticket must be punched in the orange or red box before you travel. An unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket, and inspectors work the metro escalators in numbers.
- App tickets and travelcards need no validating, which is the main reason to use them. BudapestGO charges the same prices as the machines.
- Trams 4 and 6 run all night around the Grand Boulevard and are the backbone of the city; M1 under Andrássy út is the oldest underground line on the continent.
- Driving needs a motorway e-vignette, checked by camera with no grace period, and Hungary's drink-drive limit is zero with no allowance whatsoever.
Budapest fares
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Single | HUF 500 |
| Single bought on the spot | HUF 700 |
| Block of 10 | HUF 4,500 |
| 24 hour travelcard | HUF 2,750 |
| 72 hour travelcard | HUF 5,750 |
| Monthly pass | HUF 8,950 |
- The 24 hour travelcard pays for itself in six rides and removes the whole validation problem.
- The 100E airport bus is excluded from all of these. It needs its own HUF 2,500 ticket.
- BudapestGO is the official app and charges the same prices as the machines.
Validate, or pay
- A paper single ticket must be punched in the orange or red box at the metro entrance or on board a tram or bus, before you travel.
- An unvalidated ticket is treated as no ticket. The penalty is several times the fare and inspectors work the metro escalators in numbers.
- App tickets and travelcards do not need validating, which is the main reason to use them.
- Inspectors wear armbands and are often at the bottom of the escalator. They ask everyone.
The network
- Four metro lines. M1, the little yellow one under Andrássy út, opened in 1896 and is the oldest underground line on the European continent.
- Trams 4 and 6 run all night around the Grand Boulevard and are the backbone of the city.
- Night buses cover the city from midnight to dawn.
- The suburban HÉV trains reach Szentendre and the outskirts, and need a supplement beyond the city boundary.
Between cities
- MÁV runs the trains and the network radiates from Budapest. Budapest to Lake Balaton takes 2 to 3 hours, Budapest to Debrecen about 2.5.
- Trains are cheap and mostly reliable, though the rolling stock is a lottery.
- Buses (Volánbusz) reach everywhere the trains do not.
- FlixBus covers the international routes to Vienna, Bratislava, Prague and Belgrade.
- 12Go sells Hungarian trains and buses in the same place as the rest of a central European route.
Driving
- A motorway e-vignette is compulsory, bought online or at petrol stations, and it is checked by camera. A 10 day national one costs around HUF 6,400.
- Buy it before you join the motorway. There is no grace period and the fine arrives by post.
- Zero tolerance for alcohol. Hungary's drink drive limit is 0.0, with no allowance whatsoever.
- Headlights on at all times outside built-up areas.
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